Israel is providing intelligence, including satellite photos and classified information, to support the efforts of the US-led coalition against the organization “Islamic State” IS; formerly known as ISIS in Iraq, a Western diplomat stated to Walla! News Monday. The diplomat stated to the Israeli daily on condition of anonymity that, once the information has been processed and corroborated, it would be transferred to Washington and its regional allies, including neighboring Turkey.The source added that once data is transferred from Israel, “the Pentagon can complete the information gaps and gain a better appreciation of the battle picture” in Iraq and its IS targets. Israeli officials have declined to comment on the report. Earlier Monday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki stated that “forty countries have expressed a desire to participate in the regional coalition to help Iraq face the Islamist threat.”Psaki also said that the Secretary of State of the United States, John Kerry, will travel to the Middle East on Tuesday to promote the coalition efforts.Kerry will tour Amman, Jordan and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with his counterparts to discuss the international plan to battle IS. “During his stay in the region, Kerry will consult with key partners and allies on how to support the security and stability of the Iraqi government to fight the threat of ISIS,” the State Department said in a statement.Also Monday, the new head of the UN’s Human Rights Council, Jordan’s Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, urged the world to make halting the “increasingly conjoined conflicts in Iraq and Syria” an “immediate and urgent priority.” IS “has demonstrated absolute and deliberate disregard for human rights,” Zaid said, stressing that “the scale of its use of brute violence against ethnic and religious groups is unprecedented in recent times.”He warned that attacks by the group motivated by ethnic background or religious beliefs may constitute “a crime against humanity, for which those responsible must be held accountable.”The international community is scrambling to battle IS after the group broadcast a video earlier this month showing the brutal decapitation of American journalist Steve Sotloff, and vowed continued beheadings until the US stopped its airstrikes. The tape, entitled “A Second Message to America,” not only vows death on another journalist – British civilian David Haines – but also threatens the US over its action against the terrorists. The incident has sparked a worldwide scramble to suppress terrorism in Syria and Iraq, where IS has been taking large swaths of land over the past several months and committing genocide against thousands of ethnic minorities.
via Report: US Seeking Int’l Coalition Against IS – Global Agenda – News – Arutz Sheva.